Nucleation work, surface tension, and Gibbs-Tolman length for nucleus of any size

Abstract

In the framework of the Gibbs approach to nucleation thermodynamics, expressions are derived for the nucleation work, nucleus size, surface tension, and Gibbs-Tolman length in homogeneous single-component nucleation at a fixed temperature. These expressions are in terms of the experimentally controlled overpressure of the nucleating phase and are valid for the entire overpressure range, i.e., for nucleus of any size. Analysis of available data for bubble and droplet nucleation in Lennard-Jones fluid shows that the theory describes well the data by means of a single free parameter, the Gibbs-Tolman length of the planar liquid/vapor interface. It is found that this length is about one-tenth of the Lennard-Jones molecular-diameter parameter and that it is positive for the bubble nucleus and negative for the droplet nucleus. In a sufficiently narrow temperature range, the nucleation work, nucleus radius, scaled surface tension, and Gibbs-Tolman length are apparently universal functions of scaled overpressure.